Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Restrain

Re·strain′ (rē·strān′), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Restrained; p. pr. & vb. n. Restraining.] [OE. restreinen, F. restreindre, fr. L. restringere, restrictum; pref. re- re- + stringere to draw, bind, or press together. See Strain, v. t., and cf. Restrict.] 1. To draw back again; to hold back from acting, proceeding, or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by any interposing obstacle; to repress or suppress; to keep down; to curb.

Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose! Shak.

2. To draw back toghtly, as a rein. [Obs.] Shak.

3. To hinder from unlimited enjoiment; to abridge.

Though they two were committed, at least restrained of their liberty. Clarendon.

4. To limit; to confine; to restrict. Trench.

Not only a metaphysical or natural, but a moral, universality also is to be restrained by a part of the predicate. I. Watts.

5. To withhold; to forbear.

Thou restrained prayer before God. Job. xv. 4.

Syn. — To check; hinder; stop; withhold; repress; curb; suppress; coerce; restrict; limit; confine.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.